Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Hallowe'en Hacks - Keep Those Tombstones Standing {Tuesday Tips}

With my love of Hallowe'en comes a love for erecting spooky tombstones in my front yard for a couple of weeks each year. I've collected a few over time, and have a selection of both plastic and styrofoam varieties. But we have what seems to be a constant struggle with some of these decorations falling over in the wind. Or even in a light breeze.

The issue is twofold. One, the ground under the tree where we set up the graveyard is pretty uneven, so it's difficult to get the little spikes in on a stable footing. And two, those little spikes on some of the tombstones are just so, well, little.

I was sizing up the situation yesterday, when it suddenly occurred to me that the plastic decorations were doing fine, because they came with metal pegs to keep them in the ground. These are long and sturdy. The styrofoam have short plastic spikes.

Lightbulb!

Tent pegs, my friend. Tent pegs. I went into the backyard toy bin and grabbed a few pegs from the soccer practice nets. And guess what? They were oh so easy to puncture through the bases of the foam tombstones, leaving lots of metal to go down into the soil.

Problem Solved!

Play tents, soccer goals, golf practice nets, so many things come with these metal pegs to keep them firmly in place. If you're struggling with keeping foam decorations upright in your lawn, have a look and see if you have any of these lying around. Press the end of the peg firmly and carefully into the foam to puncture through, and you're all set!